Some topics can be difficult to search for in Westlaw using the normal keyword search. For instance, if you’re interested in what qualifies as properly serving notice on the opposing party, a simple search for “notice” will return far too many results. Nearly every case in the database will use the term “notice” at some point, and so it will be part of your search results. What you need is to narrow those results down to just the cases that are about the issues concerning notice specifically.
Luckily, Westlaw provides a tool that can help deal with this issue. Westlaw has legal experts categorize court cases using the Key Number system. The Key Number system divides the law into over 450 categories and thousands of subcategories. In the headnotes of a case, you’ll see the Key Number references for each legal topic involved in the case. This gives you a quick overview of the main issues addressed by a court case, but it also can be a useful tool to find additional court cases on the same topics.
Each Key Number consists of a number for the main topic, the letter k and a number representing the specific aspect of that topic. For example, 277 is the category of Notice, and 9 is the subcategory for “Requisites and sufficiency of formal notice in general”. So cases concerning the required elements of a notice get the Key Number 277k9.
You can browse through the Key Numbers by clicking the “Topics & Key Numbers” link on the Westlaw start page. Or if you have a case you’ve already found that covers issues you’re interested in, you can click on the Key Numbers in the headnotes to see other cases that cover similar topics.
Once you know a particular Key Number for a topic, you can search for that specific Key Number in the Westlaw search bar, to only find cases assigned that Key Number. So when we enter 277k9 into the search bar, it returns 395 cases in Pennsylvania and the 3rd Circuit. This lower number is much more manageable, and those cases are more likely to be relevant to our issue.
For more information on how to use the Key Number system, consult this guide from Westlaw.
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